record set almost a year ago of 142,000 hospitalizations. even more concerning, child hospitalizations are hitting new records as the omicron variant spreads. cnn's polo sandoval is watching all of this unfold for us. so, polo, what is the latest? >> reporter: fred, it's clear that federal health authorities are urging those who have not yet boosted after they have completed their initial series to get boosted as soon as they can. that's one of the reasons why the fda and cdc has amended that emergency use authorization that's been standing for some time, basically shortening that period of time from the initial vaccine series up to -- to that moment when they have to get the booster. now at five months versus the original six. so that's certainly something that they hope will lead to an increase in vaccination numbers and, of course, number of people being boosted because when you look at the number of hospitalizations, certainly continues to increase and the results have been staffing shortages that we've seen at hospitals throughout the country, many of those health care workers becoming infected themselves and forced to quarantine and that's one of the